Will BP blow up my progressive press?

[G.W. Strong]

I have a lee 1000 with a plastic hopper. I load 777 on it when I want smokey rounds in my 45 colt. However, I really love the real Black stuff and want to use it  but I have heard that putting black powder in a plastic hopper can cause static electricity and blow you up. I don't want to be blown up! I want to use black and I want to use my Lee 1000 (Please no press bashing, mine works fine for me) Am I asking for trouble?

[Tascosa Joe]

Hopalong:

Take a look at this thread.    http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,6573.0.html

T-Joe

[Abilene]

Questions like this come up often.  Plenty of folks will tell you it is no problem and some will point to a website with pictures of a non-scientific experiment which "proves" that static won't set off BP.  And then you can do whatever you want.  But I will also tell you that if you wish you can easily remove your Lee powder hopper from the powder-thru expander die (assuming you are using Lee dies and measure) and screw on the Lee funnel adaptor, then use their red funnel and dip your powder.  That's what I do (with a Lee Turret) for all calibers except .38/.357 and I do use the Lee auto-disk powder measure for that, but not when the humidity is low (more static).

[Dick Dastardly]

I've loaded all my main match 44 caliber black powder ammo on a LEE Pro 1000 press with plastic powder hopper for years now.  I'm still here.  My onlyist concern is for those that consider it safe to smoke while reloading.  Darwin will get them. . .

DD-MDA

[August]

Darwin will get them. . .

DD-MDA

One way, or the other.

[john boy]

My onlyist concern is for those that consider it safe to smoke while reloading.

If I am absent from any of the forums for a week or more, I either died from other causes or was blown up while reloading because of the lighted pipe in my mouth.  And if you see a bright light streaking across the sky - that could be me!

OK, enough jest.  I do know it is not a safe act to smoke while reloading but I find it most relaxing to do it with my pipe in my mouth.  And  at matches, my last action at the line is to put my pipe in an empty slot on my shot shell belt and then say, 'The shooter is ready'

[Slowhand Bob]

It always seems like invoking a curse when I say "I have been doing it for years and nothing has happened yet"!

[Lucky R. K.]

Up until a couple of years ago I would have laughed at anybody who told me you could blow up a loader with static electricity.  I had even seen demonstrations on the internet where people had tried to set off powder with a spark.

I had been using a modified Mec Grabber to load my BP shotgun rounds for years.  Well, while loading for the Tennessee/Kentucky State match at Possum Trot mine blew up.  I had loaded probably four or five boxes when it just went off.  I do not smoke.  There were no flames or sparking devices of any kind on the bench or in the shop.  It had to be static electricity.

My glasses saved my eyes and about two hours of Micro-derm Abrasion got most of the imbeded powder off my face.

If you are dropping black powder from a loader be very careful.  As somebody said earlier, at some point, Murphy just might get you.

http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l361/decapper/Loaderblow-up.jpg

Lucky 

[Wildcat Will]

I guess I'm one of those reloader chauvinist and after loading tens of thousands of rounds on the Lee 1000 I shifted over to a Dillion Square Deal.  I bought a Lyman BP powder holder (metal) with a 12" drop tube and had our local gunsmith work up an adapter to mount it on the loader.  I've loaded that way for probably 5 years now and it works great.  I've heard lots of folks say it is safe to use plastic but figure for myself there was no point in testing fate.  

[john boy]

Lucky, thanks for the post.  It is among the few related to explosions and the only one I've seen with details.  Am glad to hear you have no permanent damage.
So, believe I'll make a grounding wire connected to a grounded water or gas pipe with a set of alligator clips that can be clamped to any of the reloaders when I'm loading black powder. 

[Jefro]

I had been using a modified Mec Grabber
Lucky 

Howdy Lucky, I'm just curious?? what was modified on the Mec Grabber??


Jefro Relax-Enjoy

[PJ Hardtack]

I use a Lyman DPS III to dispense BP. It is not warranted for such. I now that many BPCR shooters load with electronic powder dispensers and I've yet to hear of an incident.
If you ever get a 'snap' of static electricity when you touch your progressive press, I'd be concerned. Standing on a rubber mat is one way to avoid that. Standing on a carpeted surface seems to be inviting static, depending on what you have on your feet.

John Boy - Since you obviously consider yourself immune to throat cancer due to pipe smoking, the last thing you need to worry about is a blow up with BP. There's gotta be a better way for you to "relax" when reloading other than sucking on a pipe.

Summer before last I underwent months of chemo and radiation treatment for cancer. While at the clinic, I was amazed how may patients were still smoking while undergoing treatment. I know it's a powerful addiction, but that defied common sense. Now I have a strong compulsion to slap smoking material out of the hands of a smoker, especially if it's a kid. Aside from the health risk, they pollute the air around them and are a fire hazard.

I've never been a smoker, but I have an inkling about addiction. Last Sunday I had lunch with a widow and her son. Two years ago, her rodeo/rancher husband died a terrible death from throat and mouth cancer. He smoked and chewed.

[Springfield Slim]

John Boy: You'd be better served by grounding yourself to the press, not a water pipe. It is the potential between you and the press that causes the static spark that might set things off. Kinda like the warning they now give at gas stations abut not getting in and out of the car while fueling. I used to do testing in the facility I worked at where we made circuit boards. It was surprising what actually did and did not properly ground things. And we were concerned about much less spark than that which might touch off BP. I load BP on my standard Dillons and Mecs, so far so good.

[Cuts Crooked]

So the REAL question that needs to be asked is "How many here have blown up a press while using BP?"

OH!!!!!! ....................................Nevermind!

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Lucky;  Was it an explosion?  If so you are very lucky indeed.  I wonder if it was a primer incident, maybe a pellet under the repriming station?

[Lucky R. K.]

Howdy Lucky, I'm just curious?? what was modified on the Mec Grabber??


Jefro Relax-Enjoy

Jefro,

The modification to the press was to bore out the powder hole in the charge bar. I then made bushings for different charges of black powder.  The rest of the press was completely stock.

It is possible the explosion was caused by a primer.  There was no way we could tell.  The powder bottle was blown into a bucnch of pieces and the collar the bottle screws into was blown off the press.  There was a burned place on the bottom of the charge bar.  It appears the blast went up the charge tube and marked the bottom of the charge bar about an inch to the right of the powder hole. 

Other than the powder burns I only had one small cut on my forehead, probably casued by a piece of the bottle.  I was extremely lucky to have not been seriously hurt. 

You guys be careful.

Lucky 

[Lucky R. K.]

So the REAL question that needs to be asked is "How many here have blown up a press while using BP?"

OH!!!!!! ....................................Nevermind!

One for sure!

Lucky 

[Pettifogger]

Jefro,

The modification to the press was to bore out the powder hole in the charge bar. I then made bushings for different charges of black powder.  The rest of the press was completely stock.

It is possible the explosion was caused by a primer.  There was no way we could tell.  The powder bottle was blown into a bucnch of pieces and the collar the bottle screws into was blown off the press.  There was a burned place on the bottom of the charge bar.  It appears the blast went up the charge tube and marked the bottom of the charge bar about an inch to the right of the powder hole.  

Other than the powder burns I only had one small cut on my forehead, probably casued by a piece of the bottle.  I was extremely lucky to have not been seriously hurt.  

You guys be careful.

Lucky  

I'm glad you clarified your post.  That the original conclusion, "It had to be static electricity," was just speculation.  I have a case of Schuetzen and it is IN plastic bottles.  I remember reading once about a guy that was severely injured when a factory fresh metal can of BP exploded as he was unscrewing the cap.  The problem with all of these incidents is that there is no investigation by competent investigators and no one actually knows what caused the problem.  We keep hearing that powder should not be dispensed from measures with ferrous parts, yet millions of pounds of BP have been shipped in metal cans with metal caps.

Certainly glad you were not severely injured.

[Dick Dastardly]

Larsen, you hit the nail straight on.  Verified.  That's a BIG word. Explosions happen fast and recollection is "selective".  Usually it's a cocked primer, cigarette ash or errant heat that sets off the Holy Black.  I look forward to verifiable in this report.

DD-MDA 

[john boy]

There was a burned place on the bottom of the charge bar.  It appears the blast went up the charge tube and marked the bottom of the charge bar about an inch to the right of the powder hole.

Interesting!
Possibilities exist - the primer?  Would have to be that the hull base was not properly seated because the MEC's have a hole in the plate under the primer.  With ignition train going up the charging tube, the explosion had to start in the hull that was being charged.  If the wad was being seated at the point of explosion, pressure was applied to the primer when the charge tube was seating the wad.  Usually 90 lbs of pressure

All speculation, but I'm ruling out static electricity or a spark